Dudley Wright Knox. Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School. Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive

Transcription

1 Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive Dudley Knox Library Publications Library Publications Dudley Wright Knox Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School

2 - ~... Dudley Wright I<nox Commodore, USN Author and Historian Dudley Wright Knox was born on 21 June 1877, in Fort Walla Walla, then Washington Territory, to Thomas Taylor Knox, an army officer, and Cornelia Manigult Grayson Knox. The family moved to the East Coast where young Knox attended high school in Washington D.C.. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy on appointment from the Ninth District of Tennessee on 6 September 1892 and graduated 5 June Following two years at sea, then required before commissioning, he was commissioned as an Ensign on 6 May After graduation Knox was assigned to the battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts. He then served on U.S.S. Maple during the Spanish-American War on blockade duty in Cuban Waters. During the Philippine Insurrection he served on board the gunboat U.S.S. Albany and during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, the gunboat U.S.S. Iris. He then commanded three of the Navy's first destroyers: USS Shubrick, U.S.S. Wilkes, and U.S.S. Decatur before commanding the First Torpedo Flotilla. During the cruise of the "Great White Fleet" sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt, he was ordnance officer of the US.S. Nebraska (BB-14).

3 About this time Knox met Lily Hazard McCalla the daughter of Rear Admiral Bowman H. McCalla. The couple were married on 18 May In 1913, having attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander, Knox graduated from the Naval War College at Newport, RI. In the years before World War I, Knox served as Fleet Ordnance Officer in both the Atlantic and Pacific, was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence, and commanded the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. In November 1917, he joined the staff of Admiral Sims, Commander of all American Naval Forces in European Waters. He was first assigned to the planning section and then to the history section. Knox earned the Navy Cross for "distinguished service," was awarded the Companion of the British order of St. Michael and St. George and the Italian order of the Cross of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus. He was promoted to Captain 1February1918. Upon returning to the United States in March 1919 Knox began a year on the faculty of the Naval War College. There he would strongly campaign for his belief that naval officers should be given periods of education at recurring times in their career, each period building on the previous one. The Knox-Pye-King Board submitted a report to the Navy Department detailing their progressive education vision. Although the report was approved, prevailing negative attitudes about additional education for officers caused a delay in its implementation. After his assignment to the War College, Knox went on to successively command USS Brooklyn (ACR-3) and U.S.S. Charleston (C-22) before resuming duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was recognized as an expert on U.S. Na val matters and was often turned to for advice. Admiral Hilary P. Jones, the American Naval Advisor to the Naval Limitations conference often wrote to Knox concerning their progress.

4 I<nox's History of the United States Navy is recognized as the best one-volume history of the United States Navy in existence... Dr. James Baxter While with the Navy, Knox contributed a written legacy that honored both the Nation and the Navy. A master of content and sty le, his clear writings include The Eclipse of the American Sea Power (1922); The Naval Genius of George Washington ( 1936); and A History of the United States Navy (1936), the latter recognized as "the best one-volume history of the United States Navy in existence" according to, Dr. James Baxter. Knox wrote many journal articles on subjects as varied as leadership in the Navy, national strategy, and the professional value of naval history. He also served as the Naval editor for the Army and Navy J oumal and Naval Correspondent for the Baltimore Sun and the New York Herald Tribune. Despite the time devoted to his naval duties and his own speaking and writing, he also managed to find time to assist others in similar activities. He prepared many speeches and articles for fellow naval officers. He eagerly edited chapters of books sent to him for comments, critiques, and contributions. Knox also dedicated much of his time and expertise in his position as the Secretary of the Naval Historical Foundation from Advanced to Commodore, 2November1945, he was awarded the Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct" while directing the correlation and preservation of accurate records of the U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, thus protecting this vital information for posterity. Commodore Knox was relieved of all active duty 26 June After retirement he became the Vice President then Chairman of the executive committee of the Naval Historical Foundation a position he held until Commodore Knox died on 11June1960 in Bethesda, Maryland just a few days shy of his 83rd birthday.

5 Dudley W. I<nox, perhaps did tnore than any individual to strengthen and reinforce the Navy's cotntnittnent to its historic heritage and traditions... Naval Historical Center Although transferred to the Retired List of the Navy, 20 October 1921, Dudley Knox's career in the Navy was just beginning. He continued active duty simultaneously serving as Officer in Charge of three departments: The Office ofnaval Records and Library, the Historical Section, and Curator for the Navy. According to the Naval Historical Center, "Over the next twenty-five years Knox would become the driving force behind the Navy's historical program earning for the office a national and international reputation in the field of naval archives and history." When Knox assumed command, he found an office with vast collections of records in an unorganized and almost chaotic state. With a tiny staff, he began the daunting task of establishing a modem archival system. In 1927, The Historical Section, created to handle World War I records, and the Office Naval Records and Library whose mission was: the gathering and archiving of naval records and documents, editing and publishing naval records, and providing the government and public with library services, merged thus creating an office with extensive amounts of information about naval activities at its disposal. At President Roosevelt's suggestion, Knox began to compile and publish records, in series, about early naval activities. Knox was able to publish seven volumes pertaining to the Quasi War with

6 France and seven volumes relating to the war with the Barbary Powers. World War II put an end to planned series publications about the American Revolution, the Warof1812, the Mexican War, and World War I. Early in World War II the mission of writing the history of the War as it happened was added by the president. Roosevelt wanted to ensure that lessons learned from the war would not be lost. Knox complied by directing his attention to collecting the many documents generated by naval operations during the war. To organize the documents, Knox was able to bring on board professional historians who were serving in the naval reserves. Realizing that history is more then just documents, Knox developed an oral history program. Participants in significant Atlantic and Pacific operations and battles were interviewed and their stories were recorded for posterity. Samuel Eliot Morison, a Pulitzer Prize winning history professor from Harvard commissioned by President Roosevelt to prepare the 15 volume History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, relied on many of these records. Although greatly expanded under Knox to handle increased archiving, library work, and to provide special historical research, the Office of Naval Records and Library was very small and the work of the office was greatly hampered during the war by inadequate office space and frequent moves. The enormity of the task of writing the history of a war while it happened required a new approach. To coordinate the history writing program, the Office of Naval History was established 12 July 1944 and Commodore Knox was appointed to yet another important additional duty as its Deputy Director. In his position as the Curator for the Navy Department, Knox laid the ground work for a display of our nations sea heritage. In 1961, as Knox envisioned, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke established the U.S. Naval History Display Center, now in the Navy Museum, in Washington, D. C.